1. Overview A. Course Description: This assessment is designed as part of a Kindergarten Science Unit.

Overall, the Virginia Standards of Learning for Kindergarten Science require students to use basic scientific inquiry skills to explore common materials and living things. They are expected to hone observational skills by developing awareness of their five senses. They are also expected to develop their ability to generate questions, use nonstandard and standard measurement, classify objects and living things, and communicate information about the observable natural world. Through observation of a variety of natural phenomena, students will also develop a basic concept of change. The overall goal of the Kindergarten Science curriculum is that students will develop a foundational understanding that scientific knowledge is based on observational evidence. B. Unit Description: This unit for which this assessment is designed is a three-week inquiry unit on living things. The unit is shaped around the guiding question, How do plants and animals grow and change? In the first lesson of this unit, students begin their investigation of this question by examining what it means to be alive and developing a concept for living things. Students will investigate the parts of plants, tracing the flow of water through a plant, thereby developing concepts of how water sustains plant life. After students develop basic understanding of plant structure and anatomy, students will apply what they have learned to make seeds grow. As their seeds grow, students will develop strategies for measuring their plants growth and improving their plants growth. Equipped with knowledge gained from this investigation about the optimal conditions for plant growth, students will apply this knowledge to explain seasonal changes in plants. Students will continue their investigation of seasonal changes by exploring the changes in animal life as Winter changes to Spring. As they investigate animal life cycles, they will compare plants and animals and will develop a concept of animals dependence on plants. The unit will end with an exploration this interdependence, which will enable students to position themselves as members of a larger environmental community. C. Unit Objectives I. Targeted Standards of Learning Kindergarten Science A. Scientific Investigation, Reasoning, and Logic K.1 The student will conduct investigations in which a) basic properties of objects are identified by direct observation;

b) observations are made from multiple positions to achieve different perspectives; c) objects are described both pictorially and verbally; d) a set of objects is sequenced according to size; e) a set of objects is separated into two groups based on a single physical attribute; f) nonstandard units are used to measure common objects; g) a question is developed from one or more observations; h) picture graphs are constructed using 10 or fewer units; i) an unseen member in a sequence of objects is predicted; and j) unusual or unexpected results in an activity are recognized. B. Life Processes K.6 The student will investigate and understand basic needs and life processes of plants and animals. Key concepts include a) living things change as they grow, and they need food, water, and air to survive; b) plants and animals live and die (go through a life cycle); and c) offspring of plants and animals are similar but not identical to their parents and to one another C. Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Change K.8 The student will investigate and understand simple patterns in his/her daily life. Key concepts include a) weather observations; b) the shapes and forms of many common natural objects including seeds, cones, and leaves; c) animal and plant growth; and d) home and school routines. K.9 The student will investigate and understand that change occurs over time and rates may be fast or slow. Key concepts include a) natural and human-made things may change over time; and b) changes can be noted and measured. II. Intended Learning Outcomes based upon targeted SOLs 1. Describe the life needs of animals and plants. The life needs are food, water, and air. (Science K.6)
Implied: Students have a basic understanding of living as opposed to non-living things. Students are able to distinguish a plant from an

animal. Students should understand the basic properties of food, water, and air.

2. Predict what will happen to animals and plants if life needs are not met (Science K.6) Implied: Students have an understanding of cause and effect.

Students should be able to make and explain a prediction in relation to life needs. Students recognize that when life needs are not met, living things will not be able to perform basic life functions and will eventually die.

3. Describe some simple changes animals and plants undergo during the life cycle. For animals this may include changes in color, body covering, and overall size. For plants this may include size, presence of leaves and branches, and ability to produce flowers and fruits (Science K.6) Implied: Students understand the meaning of change. Students are
able to identify features and parts of animals and plants. Students understand the meaning of a life cycle.

4. Compare and contrast young plants and animals with their parents, using pictures and/or live organisms. (Science K.6) Implied: Students can apply concepts of same and different. Students
understand that living things come from other living things.

5. Identify simple patterns in natural objects e.g veins in a leaf, spiral patterns in cones, shapes and colors of common seeds. (Science K.8) Implied: Students know the meaning of pattern. Students should be

able to identify a vein and recognize cones and seeds. Student need should have a vocabulary for discussing shapes and colors. Students should know the meaning of spiral.

6. Describe how animals and plants change as they grow (Science K.8) Implied: Students know the meaning of grow and change. Students
have a basic understanding of how animals and plants progress through lifecycles.

7. Describe how things change naturally. This includes seasonal changes, the growth in seeds and common plants, common animals, including the butterfly, and the weather. (Science K.9)
Implied: Students understand the difference between natural and human-caused changes. Students should know the butterfly life cycle and a typical plant life cycle. Students should have a vocabulary for discussing these life cycles.

8. Identify examples of fast changes and slow changes. Slow changes should be the kinds of familiar changes that occur over weeks, months, or seasons. Students are not responsible for long-term changes (Science K.9) Implied: Students can apply basic calendar concepts including days,
weeks, months, and seasons. Student know the meaning of change and understand concepts of same and different.

9. Describe how people cause things to change e.g., demolition of buildings, construction of buildings, cutting down trees, planting trees, and building highways. (Science K.9)

Implied:Students should have a basic understanding of concepts of cause and effect.

Intended Learning Outcome 5 will not be evaluated by this assessment.

Table of Specifications Content

Knowledge Describe the life needs of animals and plants. The life needs are food, water, and air. (Science K.6) X S 8 Guided portfolio X S 9 Guided portfolio X M 6 Guided portfolio. Blooms Taxonomy Comprehens ion Applicati on Analys is Synthesi s Evaluatio n

Predict what will happen to animals and plants if life needs are not met(Science K.6)

Describe some simple changes animals and plants undergo during the life cycle. For animals this may include changes in color, body covering, and overall size. For plants this may include size, presence of leaves and branches, and ability to produce flowers and fruits (Science K.6) Compare and contrast young plants and animals with their parents, using pictures and/or live organisms. (Science K.6)

X S 4,10

Identify simple patterns in natural objects e.g. veins in a leaf, spiral patterns in cones, shapes and colors of common seeds. (Science K.8) Describe how animals and plants change as they grow (Science K.8)

Describe how things change naturally. This includes seasonal changes, the growth in seeds and common plants, common animals, including the butterfly, and the weather. (Science K.9) Identify examples of fast changes and slow changes. Slow changes should be the kinds of familiar changes that occur over weeks, months, or seasons. Students are not responsible for long-term changes (Science K.9) Describe how people cause things to change e.g., demolition of buildings, construction of buildings, cutting down trees, planting trees, and building highways

X L Guided portfolio Not assessed on test X S 1, 9 Guided portfolio X S 2, 7 Guided portfolio X L 5

X L 3

Indicate the emphasis of the instructional content and importance for each item. S= Strong M=Moderate L=Low

Comprehensive Unit Assessment: Student performance on this assessment will be evaluated alongside behaviors during classroom investigations and completion of a guided portfolio throughout the unit. The rubric on the following page shows how in-class performance and guided portfolio will be evaluated. The use of multiple assessment mechanisms enables students more opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned about living things. The classroom behavior and guided portfolio rubric provides a more holistic measurement of students knowledge about plants and animals by measuring their ability to generate relevant questions, investigate questions scientifically, and communicate and explain results. The Standards of Learning upon which the Intending Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for this unit are based all begin with, The student will investigate and understand, suggesting that the skills referenced in K.1 should be the students primary means of accessing the content of these ILOs. As such, evaluating student behaviors as they acquire the content assessed on this paper-and-pencil test is a key component in determining if the student has fully mastered the targeted Standards of Learning. D. Description of students and school context: This assessment was designed for a class of twenty-two Kindergarteners at Clara Byrd Baker. The majority of the class is in the Emergent or Beginning stages of literacy. In this class, there are two high-level English Language Learners, one of which has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to address speech difficulties. The class also includes a student with an IEP for autism and another student with an IEP for stuttering. In order to enable all of my students to demonstrate what they know, I have designed a highly visual test. It is my hope that this will prevent students developing decoding and encoding skills from inhibiting their demonstration of learning. Rather than requiring written responses, all supply response questions are oral and most have a visual support for students to reference. While the four exceptional learners in the class struggle with oral language, their oral language abilities are more developed than their written language abilities. It is my hope that with additional support from the English as a Second Language coordinator and the Resource Special Education Teacher prior to the assessment, these students will have extensive practice rehearsing use of relevant unit vocabulary. In addition, I plan to allow additional response time for these students. Given these

accommodations and supports, I feel that the oral/visual format of this test is the best way for them to communicate their knowledge. E. Intended Use of Test Results: Students who score 80% or above on this assessment and Proficient or on Investigative Skills and the Guided Portfolio will be marked as Consistently Demonstrating the targeted SOLs. Those who score 80% or above on the assessment but do not score Proficient or above on the Investigative Skills and Guided Portfolio component or vice versa will be marked as Developing for the targeted SOLs. Those who score between 70-79% on the assessment and Developing on the Investigative Skills and Guided Portfolio component will also be marked as Developing. Students scoring below 70% on either of component of this units assessments will be marked as Needs More Time or Support for the targeted SOLs. If more than 15% of the class is marked as Developing, I will reteach and retest the content.

Rubric: Investigative Skills and Guided Portfolio Beginning (1) Developing (2) Proficient (3) Advanced (4) Responses to questions posed by the teacher/other students
The student responded to less than two questions posed by the teacher/ other students or responses were frequently not relevant to the question posed. The student responded to two or three questions posed by the teacher/ other students, but some contributions were irrelevant or unoriginal. The student responded to two or three questions posed by the teacher/ other students with relevant and orignial contributions. The student responded to three or more questions posed by the teacher/other students with relevant and orignal contributions that the student supported with observational

Initiation of questions relevant to the topics of study

The student did not generate questions relevant to the topic of study

The student generated one to two questions relevant to the topic of study, but at least on of the questions had already been answered or were unorignal The student generally follows safety guidelines and uses materials for their directed purposes, but occasionally requires redirection by a teacher or classmate. The student generally takes turns in a group and makes some contributions to group discussions, but ocassionally requires additional prompting from

The student generated one to two original questions relevant to the topic of study. At least one of these questions was based on in-class observations. The student consistently follows safety guidelines and uses materials for directed purposes.

Use of materials

Cooperative work

The student damages the materials, uses materials for purposes other than scientific investiagtion, or does not follow safety guidelines on more than one occasion. The student struggles to take turns in group and rarely contributes to group discussion

evidence. The student generated two to three original and insightful questions relevant to the topic of study. At least one of these questions was based on in-class observations. The student consistently follows safety guidelines and uses materials for directed purposes, and reminds their classmates to do the same.

The student consistently takes turns in a group and contributes to group discussions.

The student consistently takes turns in a group, contributes to group discsussion, and shows leadership by delegating reponsibility or

group members or the teacher.

Time on task

The student is frequently off task and needs frequent redirection in order to accomplish assigned work.

Guided portfolio

Five or more items in the students guided portfolio are incomplete, illegible. Five or more observational drawings or measurements do not adequately reflect the designated object.

The student is generally on task, but needs ocassional redirection to accomplish assigned work in a timely manner. Three or four items in the students guided portfolio are incomplete or illegible. Three or four observational drawings or measurements in the students guided portfolio do not adequately reflect the designated object.

The student is consistently on task and accomplishes work in a timely manner.

involving group members in discussion. The student is consistently on task and completes work with great detail and accuracy in a timely manner. The students observational drawings are frequently highly detailed or labeled. All but one or two of the items in the students guided portfolio are complete and legible. All but one or two of the students observational drawings and measurements reflect the designated object. When asked by the teacher to

All but one or two of the items in the students guided portfolio are complete and legible. All but one or two of the students observational drawings and measurements reflect the designated object.

Communication and explanation of

When asked by the teacher to verbally

When asked by the teacher to verbally

When asked by the teacher to

results

explain observations during and after investigations, the student is often unable or unwilling .

explain observations during and after investigations, the student is able to tells what they observed but struggles to develop explanations for what occurred.

verbally explain observations during and after investigations, the student is able to tell what they observe and develop basic explanations for what occurred.

verbally explain observations during and after investigations, the student is able to tell what they observe, develop basic explanations, and justify their explanations, linking observations to concepts developed in class.

2. Design Elements A. Intended Learning Outcomes: The ILOs for this assessment are the same as the unit ILOs. The only one that is excluded is number 5. See pages 1-3. B. Table of Specifications. The TOS for this assessment is the same as the unit TOS. The only ILO that is not assessed is number 5. See pages 1-3. C. Construct Validity: I carefully considered the cognitive level and the explicit, implicit, and conditional content of the ILOs in designing my test questions. I began by unpacking the curriculum, and critically analyzing these features for

each of my target ILOs. As I was unpacking my targeted ILOs, I found that the ILOs for my targeted SOLs are largely ambiguous about what plants and animals the students should know. Butterflies are the only plants that are mentioned in specific. As such, I made the instructional choice to present plants and animals that the students would already have some familiarity with so that they could build on this background knowledge to develop the broader concepts of change and growth, which are emphasized strongly in the curriculum framework. The use of pictures and diagrams that will be familiar to the students helps to ensure that I am assessing their conceptual understandings rather than their familiarity with a vast array of plants and animals. My choice to use a highly visual and oral format was guided by my desire to ensure that my students still developing literacy skills would not interfere with their ability to demonstrate their science knowledge. This, I hope, will promote the construct validity of the test by ensuring it is assessing their science knowledge rather than their developing literacy. My use of oral supply response questions also promoted construct validity by enable students to demonstrate higher levels on Blooms taxonomy thinking without being inhibited by the literacy skills. D. Content Validity: In planning this assessment, I considered my unit plan and the relative areas of emphasis within my unit plan. Using a table of specifications, I marked the relative of emphasis I would place on each ILO with a S for Strong, M for Medium, and L for Low. In designing the test, I ensured that the components that were least emphasized in my instruction were also least represented on the assessment and vice versa. The items with low instructional emphasis were only represented on the test by one select response item each. F. Threats to reliability: In my classroom, my cooperating teacher and I have found that that our students tend to do better on assessments when they are given in small groups or individually rather than to the whole class. It enables us to better redirect children who are losing attention and support students who need repetition or greater chunking of directions. As such, I am planning on giving the select-response portion of the test at a center during morning table rotations. While the small group administration has some benefits for reliability, it also means that the noise level of the rest of the class is a variable that could impact the test results. My administration of oral directions could also impact the test results. I will be having to administer the select response portion of the test three times, and while I hope to be consistent across administrations, I may vary slightly. These variables all pose systematic threats to reliability. I plan to minimize these threats by being very firm with the class prior to administration about noise level and providing the same directions to each

group. The individual oral supply response component of the assessment also has some threats to reliability. Because this is done individually, students are pulled throughout the day to take the test. Often this is while other class activities are occurring, so again, noise level is a variable as is the students desire to be participating in the activity the class is doing. Another variable is the adult administering the test. Often my cooperating teacher, the teachers assistant, and I all pull students to administer the test. On past assessments, I have noticed each of us administers tests slightly differently, using different prompts, different wait times, and different evaluative criteria. I have controlled for evaluative criteria by providing rubrics, but prompting and wait time may still be variables. While these systematic variables still pose a threat, I have tried to control for other systematic threats by having my cooperating teacher proofread the test for both wording and design elements G. Predictive validity In the era of standardized testing accountability, teachers frequently try to design their tests to carry predictive validity for state mandated tests. This is not necessarily the case for Kindergarten assessments. Aside from Phonemic Awareness Literacy Screening and Reading ad Math benchmarks, teacher generated assessments are the primary means of assessment for students in Kindergarten. I would caution against using this assessment for predicting students scores on Science SOLs in the upper grades. While the Science standards in the upper grades certainly build upon understandings of Kindergarten standards, there are many variables that would threaten the validity of predicting performance on third, fourth, or fifth grade SOLs from Kindergarten assessments, including teacher efficacy in first and second grade and development of literacy and math skills in these grades, and familiarity with the test format. The test may carry some predictive validity for students performance on the teacher-designed assessment for Natural Resources unit that follows this unit, as that unit builds upon foundational understandings from this unit and the assessment will utilize aa format quite similar to this one. The test may also carry some predictive validity for students performance on teacher-designed assessments in first and second grade. Again, teacher efficacy, development of literacy and math skills, and familiarity with the test format are potential threats to the tests predictive validity for these measures. H. Scoring and grading procedures. Scoring will be guided by the answer key for select response items and the rubrics for oral supply response items. For the select response items, if the students work matches the answer key, full credit will be given. For the oral supply response component, transcription of oral items will be scored by myself and a co-rater and

averaged to promote greater reliability. After administering the test, if I analyze the results and see that particular items were problematic for a majority of students, I will consider giving all students credit for this problem or eliminating the item from grading considerations. In Kindergarten, students are only marked as CD(Consistently Demonstrates), DV (Developing), or NI (Needs improvement) on standards. This test in conjunction with student classroom behavior throughout the unit and the guided portfolio will determine whether a student receives a CD, DV, or NI for these standards. See 1e.

Living Things Test 1. Cut out the pictures below and glue them in order to show a plant life cycle.

Name:

____________________________________________

2. Which set of pictures shows a butterflys life cycle in the right order?

3. Which picture shows a change that was probably caused by humans?

4. Draw a line from each baby living thing to the grown-up that matches.

A
5. Which set of pictures shows the fastest change?

Winter

Summer

C
Winter Summer

Oral supply response Teacher Administration Directions: Read each question aloud. Prompt students to look at corresponding select response questions as necessary. Record students response.

6. Prompt student to look at their response to number 1. Say Tell me how the plant is changing in each picture (4 points)

7. Prompt student to look at their response to number 2. Say Tell me about a butterflys life cycle. (4 points)

8. What three things do all living things need? (4 points)

9. What would happen if a living thing did not have the three things it needs? (4 points)

10. Prompt the student to pick a baby and grown-up pair they matched on number #4. a. Tell me two things that are the same about the baby and grown up. (2 points) b. Tell me two things that are different. (2 points)

10. Tell me some of the changes that happen when winter becomes Spring. (4 points)

Answer Key and Scoring Rubrics: 1.

4 points -1 for each misplaced 2. A (3 points) 3. C (3 points)

4. Cub- lion; Tadpole- frog; Egg-bird; Sunflower seed- sunflower (4 points 1 for each mismatched) 5. C (3 points)

6. (4 points)
Identification of changes Needs Improvement (0-1) The student is unable to independently identify physical changes the plant undergoes or needs prompting more than twice to identify one physical change the plant has undergone in each picture. Developing (2) The student independently identifies some physical changes the plant undergoes, but needs prompting once or twice to identify one physical change the plant has undergone in each picture. The students descriptions are narrow in focus and reference fewer than two of the following: the growth of leaves, the production of flowers, the growth of roots, or the increase in size. The student misuses a basic plant term or uses less than two of the following basic plant terms: leaves, roots, stems, seeds. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student identifies at least one physical change the plant has undergone in each picture without prompting. Their descriptions of these changes reference at least two following: the growth of leaves, the production of flowers, the growth of roots, or the increase in size. Exemplary (4) The student independently identifies more than one physical change the plant has undergone for each picture without prompting. Their descriptions of these changes reference three or more of the following: the growth of leaves, the production of flowers, the growth of roots, or the increase in size. The student may expand on their descriptions by providing explanations for the changes. The students explanation includes accurate uses of at least three of the follwing basic plant terms: leaves, roots, stems, seeds. The child includes more detailed vocabulary related to a plants life cycle, such as words like sprout and

Vocabulary

The student does not reference or misuses several of following basic plant terms: leaves, roots, stems, seeds.

The students explanation includes accurate uses of two accurate uses of the following basic plant terms: leaves, roots, stems, seeds.

budding.

7. (4 points)
Description of life cycle Needs Improvement (01) The student is unable to independently identify or describe any of the basic features of the stages of a butterflys life cycle. The child needs prompting more than three times to identify the stages of butterflys life ccle. Developing (2) The student identifies and describes basic features of one or two stages of the butterflys lfie cycle but needs prompting once or twice. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student identifies at least three stages of the butterflys life cycle and describes these staes without prompting. Exemplary (4) The student independently identifies all of the stages of a butterflys life cycle. The student may use more specific scientific vocabulary including larva, pupa, or crysallis.

8. (4 points)
Identification of water, food, and air as three life needs Needs Improvement (01) The student is unable to independently identify any of the three life needs. The student identifies one or two life need independently but Developing (2) The student identifies two of the basic life needs independently, but needs prompting once or twice to identify the last. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student identifies the three life needs independently or the student identifies at least two of the life needs independently and needs minimal Exemplary (4) The student independently identifies all three life needs. The student may explain why living things need these things. The students

student is unable to identify more or needs prompting more than twice to identify the remaining life needs.

prompting once to identify the last.

may mention that plants need sunlight to make food.

9. ( 4 points)
Prediction Needs Improvement (01) The student is unable to independently identify that a living thing would die if its life needs are not met. Developing (2) The student needs prompting to identify that a living things would die if its life needs are not met. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student independently identifies that a living things would die if its life needs are not me. Exemplary (4) The student independently identifies that a living things would die if its life needs are not met. The student explains that living things would not be able to eat, drink, grow, or breathe, without their life needs. Exemplary (4) The student independently identifies two similarities and two differences. The student identifies additional similarities or differences. Students identification of differences utilizes relevant scientific vocabulary or demonstrates insightful

10. (4 points)
Identification of similarities and differences. Needs Improvement (01) The student is unable to independently identify any similarites or differences. The student identifies one of two similiarities or differences but needs prompting more than twice to identify more. Developing (2) The student independently identifies at least 2 similarities or differences but needs prompting once or twice to identify more. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student independently identifies two similarities and two differences. The student identifies three similiarities or differences but needs prompting once or twice to identify two of each.

observation.

11. (4 points)
Identification of changes Needs Improvement (0-1) The student is unable to independently identify any changes that occur as Winter changes to Spring. Developing (2) The student independently identifies one or two changes that occur when Winter becomes Spring but needs prompting once or twice to identify more. The students descriptions are narrow in focus and reference fewer than two of the following: the temperature, animal behavior, plant growth, sunlight, clothing. Meets Expectations (3-4) The student identifies at least three changes without prompting. Their descriptions of these changes reference at least two following: the temperature, animal behavior, plant growth, sunlight, clothing. Exemplary (4) The student identifies at least three changes without prompting. Their descriptions of these changes reference at least two following: the temperature, animal behavior, plant growth, sunlight, clothing. The student may expand on their descriptions by providing explanations for the changes.